Chapter 83

Chapter 83

“The patient in Room 601. Surname Lu.” The head nurse left Qiao Yu behind and walked toward that patient. Then she picked up the care tag hanging from the hospital bed and glanced at it. “Congratulations. The surgery was a success. From here on, as long as you exercise properly and memorize everything in the booklet, you’ll be discharged.”

Patient Lu nodded. His eyes were bright and unusually clear, clean in a way that was rarely seen.

“Get back to work. Slacking off again!”

The head nurse turned around and saw Qiao Yu standing there with the broom planted on the floor. Her temper flared at once.

Qiao Yu quickly looked away, grabbed the broom, and hurried back.

As he cleaned the room, he kept taking in the luxurious furnishings of the ward, puzzled.

Did a public hospital really need to be this extravagant?

And they dared charge 168 yuan just to register? Were they really not afraid of getting shut down, or what?

“Are you done cleaning?” the head nurse asked from outside the door with a frown.

Qiao Yu hurriedly straightened up and nodded.

In truth, the room wasn’t that dirty. He had only needed to wipe down the corners and sweep the floor.

“If you’re done, then hurry out. The patients with appointments are about to arrive.”

Qiao Yu walked out as instructed. Only then did he notice there were several other cleaners in the corridor. The difference was, those cleaners were all middle-aged aunties. He was the only edgy young non-mainstream guy among them.

As the head nurse urged Qiao Yu away, he glanced back.

He saw the patients in hospital gowns lining up not far away, and with sharp eyes, he realized they were all streamers.

Because among them was a certain Luo “truly naive little sweetheart” Ziwei, who was craning his neck and looking around.

Qiao Yu immediately averted his gaze and bolted, terrified of getting entangled with this silly son again.

The kid spent all day whimpering nonstop. Just seeing him made Qiao Yu’s head buzz.

He wanted a little more peace and quiet. Just a little…

Luo Ziwei was very disappointed. He realized his luck was terrible this time, because he hadn’t run into his golden-thigh father.

The hospital corridor was silent and empty. An unknown cold wind kept slipping straight down the back of his neck, and up ahead was that strange nurse leading them with a completely expressionless face!

Honestly, the moment he heard the name of this Instance, chills had run down his spine.

Because whether in movies, novels, or escape rooms, hospitals were absolutely high-incident zones.

“Can you stop crowding me? Did you chase your idol all the way into an Instance?”

Luo Ziwei was pulled back to his senses by the icy voice beside his ear. He couldn’t help looking up at the person next to him.

The other person was tall, long-legged, and dressed fashionably.

The strangest part was that he had a huge pair of sunglasses stuck on his face, like some kind of lunatic.

Luo Ziwei had too much on his mind and hadn’t even caught what the other person had said. “What did you say I was chasing?”

The man lifted his chin and let out an ambiguous scoff, looking down on him completely.

Luo Ziwei: ??

This guy really was seriously ill!

He slowed his steps and silently put some distance between them.

“Take your medical records. One room per person.” The nurse, her face stiff, pushed open the first ward door. “Press the call bell if anything happens.”

Luo Ziwei entered the ward. Before doing anything else, he opened the Live Stream Room, wanting to see if there was any thigh to cling to.

The streamer list was filled entirely with Blue-Name Streamer entries. This Instance had pulled in a total of thirteen streamers… Hm? Wait, that wasn’t right. Including him, there were clearly only twelve people.

Had someone died the moment they came in?

Luo Ziwei carefully checked the streamer list again and found that everyone was currently alive. The only thing slightly unusual was probably that ID made entirely of asterisks.

What did that mean?

Aaaaaah, what should he do? He was panicking so hard!

“Dad, where are you? My brain isn’t enough for this.”

Luo Ziwei couldn’t hold back a wail.

Suddenly, his door was shoved open with a bang. The nurse from earlier had appeared in his doorway at some point and was staring straight at him as she warned, “No loud noises!”

Luo Ziwei: ⊙_⊙

The nurse walked in and stopped in front of the hospital bed. She shoved the tag in her hand into the slot at the head of the bed, then said coldly, “Bed 604, Patient Chi-the character for ‘eat’…”

Patient Eat??

He wanted to laugh, but he didn’t dare.

The next second, the nurse pointed at him. “Patient Chi, don’t wander around for no reason. Lie down properly on the bed.”

Luo Ziwei: “……”

Only then did Luo Ziwei realize that he was the so-called “Patient Chi,” and his entire being instantly felt wrong.
Once the nurse saw Luo Ziwei lie back down on the hospital bed, she filled in the nursing tag: “Bed 604-leukemia.”

Maybe it was his imagination, but the moment the nurse said that, Luo Ziwei felt his whole body begin to burn up. A rare wave of exhaustion dragged at his mind.

“Drink your medicine.”

Luo Ziwei sniffed the foul odor coming from the cup and instinctively turned his head away.

Seeing that he refused to drink, the nurse thrust the disposable paper cup toward him. Her gaze gradually turned dangerous and unreadable. “Drink it!”

As Luo Ziwei hesitated, that hand began to shift from white to blue-green. The shadow it cast on the floor also grew blurry and chaotic, and the entire ward visibly dimmed.

At the same time, the nurse’s face was turning blue-green as well. It was clearly a sign that she was becoming a ghost.

Did refusing to take the medicine count as breaking a rule?

But the medicine was pitch-black. Who would dare drink that carelessly?!

Luo Ziwei wanted to run, but his limbs were weak. He had the will, but not the strength.

Perhaps because there was no one beside him this time that he could rely on, Luo Ziwei managed to hold himself together despite his fear and kept himself from collapsing. He reached out with a trembling hand, took the disposable paper cup, then tilted his head back and poured it into his mouth.

After drinking it, he buried his face in the blanket.

But the nurse was still watching him like a predator. Her spine was slightly arched, as if she might spring at him at any moment.

At the same time, hidden black blotches began surfacing across her bluish-white face. “Drink it!”

Luo Ziwei knew there was no dodging this. With a gulp, he swallowed the bitter liquid he had been holding in his mouth.

The instant he finished the medicine, the nurse’s hunched back slowly straightened. The shadow on the floor gradually became clear again, and everything returned to normal.

When sunlight poured back into the ward, Luo Ziwei was defeated by an overpowering drowsiness, and his consciousness sank into sleep…

Meanwhile, Qiao Yu followed the cleaning ladies back to the staff dormitory. As soon as he entered, he saw whitewashed walls. There wasn’t even a single window on any of the four sides, and the only light came from a small bulb overhead.

Compared to the luxurious ward from earlier, this place was practically bare walls and nothing else.

Qiao Yu sighed. Sure enough, the one spending money was the master, and the one earning money was the grandson.

He looked at the dust that had accidentally gotten on his hands and decided to go to the restroom to wash them.

[Connecting to Live Stream Room… Live stream starting.]

-I’m here, I’m here!

-Huh? Isn’t this Ningping County First People’s Hospital? Why isn’t the streamer in a ward? And why is he wearing… a cleaner’s uniform?

-If it were any other streamer, I might be surprised. But since it’s him, I’m not surprised at all.

[Viewer Painted Skin loves you deeply and has spent a large number of skill points to light up a Fan Badge for the streamer.]

[Painted Skin has been detected joining the streamer’s fan club. Congratulations, streamer, you have received an Eyebrow Pencil gifted by Painted Skin. 1. As long as you use this Eyebrow Pencil to write the Painted-Skin Ghost’s name on paper, you can summon the Painted-Skin Ghost. (Time limit: 1 hour. Once per Instance.)

2. If you use this Eyebrow Pencil to draw your eyebrows, you can obtain the Painted-Skin Ghost’s Face-Changing Transformation ability and become anyone you want. (Time limit: 30 minutes. Three times per Instance.)]

-Amazing. Sister Painted Skin really went all in!

-I’m dead. Streamer is confirmed a Ghost Heartthrob~

[System Message: Fan Painted Skin has tipped streamer I’m Your Dad 10 gold coins.]

-Painted Skin: Baby qy, go wild without worry. I’ll steal e-bike batteries to support you.

[System Message: Streamer, please spend all remaining gold coins within six hours after the live stream begins. Any unspent coins will be cleared after the deadline.]

“Thank you for the tip, Sister Painted Skin.” Qiao Yu’s eyes curved as he smiled, his expression full of delight.

-Painted Skin: Baby qy, why aren’t you in a ward?

Qiao Yu bent down, cupped some water in his hands, and slowly washed them as he replied, “Being a patient costs over a thousand a day in hospitalization fees. Being a cleaner pays sixty thousand a month. Of course I chose to work. A worker’s body, a worker’s soul. Workers are superior to all.”

-Pfft. Streamer’s future is really paved with money.

-Li Xiaoqin: I’ve been waiting seven or eight days for you. You finally started streaming.

Qiao Yu shook the water droplets off his hands and smiled. “Missed me that much?”

-Li Xiaoqin: Like hell! Whose kid is this? Hurry up and take him away!!!

Qiao Yu: “…”

Uh… He had completely forgotten about No. 59 Ghost.

-Li Xiaoqin: Say something!

Qiao Yu: “Something.”